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Tuesday, 28 February 2017

(The Star) Project to bring in money

GELANG PATAH: The Forest City project, upon completion, is expected to bring in least RM50mil in tax revenue for the local authority every year.

Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the revenue would be collected through property or land taxes and that some of the revenue would be used to upgrade or build new facilities for the benefit of the people.

“Despite having oil and gas hubs in Johor, we do not have an oil industry so such a development would bring in additional income for the state every year.

“The upgrading or new facilities include maintenance and the building of new recreational parks, children’s playgrounds and more,” he said.

Mohamed Khaled said this in a press conference after visiting the Gelang Patah area on Saturday.

During the visit, he attended briefings on the upgrading works of Dewan Muafakat in Taman Pulai Utama, Dewan Niaga Mutiara Rini as well as a briefing on the development of Sireh Park, a public park which provides kayaking and other activities in Iskandar Puteri.

“The state government has set a target that all local authorities must spend some 40% of their revenue on upgrading of facilities such as recreational areas, pedestrian walkways, hawker centres and others,” he said.

He added that besides all this, the state government has also asked Iskandar Regional Development Authority to conduct research to develop areas in Johor into recreational parks that would accommodate cycling and extreme sports activities.

“We need more recreational areas in Johor and the first phase of development of Sireh Park, spread over 138ha, is expected to be completed by this year,” he said.

During his visit, Mohamed Khaled allocated a total of RM150mil to the Gelang Patah parliamentary area for development projects and to address other community issues.